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Southwest Textile Time Periods

April 9, 2014

Influenced by historical events, temporal and stylistic periods are approximations and vary to some degree between the Pueblo, Navajo, and Spanish-American textile traditions. Therefore, some overlap occurs between the date ranges as designated here for textiles of the American Southwest. Also, many woven styles cross over between periods so that not all blankets woven in the so-called Classic Period of 1850 would be considered Classic in style nor are those woven in 1890 all stylistically Transitional. These “generic” styles are designated, instead, by the part of the century in which they were made (early, mid or late 19th century, for instance).

Pre-Classic 1598–1821

1598—Juan de Oñate arrives in SW with sheep

Navajo weaving well established by 1704

1821—Mexico gains independence from Spain

Classic 1800–1860

1821—Santa Fe Trail opens

1846–1848—Mexican American War, ending with Mexico ceding the Southwest region to the United States